Creating a Virtual Instrument with Qt

[Annabelle]

When I make the "Hello World" project, will this help me in basic practices for creating my virtual instrument player? Also, another question I have, what steps would I take to make this virtual instrument available across all operating systems? Is a Windows version designed the same as a Mac version? Windows 32 Bit the same as Windows 64 Bit? And how about Linux? Are there any other operating systems I should know about?

[JonB]

@Annabelle

• Yes, "Hello World" will give you a start toward what you are trying to achieve, and is where you need to start from. Put it this way: if you cannot get "Hello World" project done & working, you won't get anywhere with the virtual instrument player.

• One of the huge points of Qt is precisely that it does allow you to design a single program & an interface which runs on different operating systems. If you were not using Qt (or something similar), you'd have to design separately for each platform.

• Qt supports Windows (all bit-nesses), Linux (all variants), and MacOS. It allows development for Android devices. That's enough of an operating system list for you to deal with.

There are variations in what is needed to get Qt installed and get your code compiled for each platform, but essentially once you have the running program it will behave to the end user the same on all platforms.

I would find your specification for your first program daunting. and I have been programming for too many years, and am fully sighted. So you should start with very small steps toward your very lofty goal.

[SGaist]

Building and playing a bit with a default project will help you get started.

You have the list of main Desktop OS, since you are a beginner, this should already be enough.

You’ll have to build your project for each OS you plan to support. And also follow the deployment procedure for them.

[Annabelle]

@SGaist said in Creating a Virtual Instrument with Qt:

Building and playing a bit with a default project will help you get started.

You have the list of main Desktop OS, since you are a beginner, this should already be enough.

You’ll have to build your project for each OS you plan to support. And also follow the deployment procedure for them.

So for example, the first part of my Way-Cool Advanced Sample Engine is the Main Window of the App. This includes the Menu Bar, the Player View button, the Browser View button, and the Mixer View button.

[SGaist]

I was thinking more about getting used to the widgets themselves and how to work with them. Once you're used to them, you can start designing your GUI and implement it.

[JonB]

@Annabelle
Assuming you're still around. Although I do not use Qt 5.10 (the latest Release), I just noticed what I understand to be a whole new feature introduced there: https://doc.qt.io/qt-5.10/qtspeech-index.html

I think/hope Qt text-to-speech might be a huge boon to your intended product!

[Annabelle]

@JonB said in Creating a Virtual Instrument with Qt:

@Annabelle
Assuming you're still around. Although I do not use Qt 5.10 (the latest Release), I just noticed what I understand to be a whole new feature introduced there: https://doc.qt.io/qt-5.10/qtspeech-index.html

I think/hope Qt text-to-speech might be a huge boon to your intended product!

Yeah I'm still here. I've just recently started school again, so that probably got in the way. QTt ext-To-Speech? Is that sort of like QAccessible? A boon? I'm confused!

[JonB]

@Annabelle
"Boon" means "helpful or beneficial". I don't know any of the details, just from what you have written previously I thought that anything to incorporate in your wok which aids the hard-of-sight would be a good idea in your product.

[Annabelle]

@JonB said in Creating a Virtual Instrument with Qt:

@Annabelle
"Boon" means "helpful or beneficial". I don't know any of the details, just from what you have written previously I thought that anything to incorporate in your wok which aids the hard-of-sight would be a good idea in your product.

Since I believe strongly in diversity, my mission is to make products and services that are accessible to anyone and everyone, whether they are sighted, blind, visually impaired, hearing, deaf, hearing impaired, or even physically handicapped, speech impaired or have learning difficulties.

[JKSH]

@Annabelle said in Creating a Virtual Instrument with Qt:

Since I believe strongly in diversity, my mission is to make products and services that are accessible to anyone and everyone, whether they are sighted, blind, visually impaired, hearing, deaf, hearing impaired, or even physically handicapped, speech impaired or have learning difficulties.

Yes, that is a very honourable principle.

Qt Text-to-Speech can be used to convert written text to spoken words.

You will need a variety of technologies to make your products and services accessible to everyone. Qt Text-to-Speech is one technology that is helpful to the blind or the visually impaired. However, it is not helpful to the deaf or the hearing impaired.

[JonB]

@Annabelle
My understanding, from your earlier posts, is that you are blind and are using text-to-speech technologies --- screen/page readers --- to do your development work.

I would think that you would welcome the fact that Qt now offers to incorporate that kind of technology for your end-users into applications you develop with Qt. That is what the new Qt text-to-speech facility I mentioned provides.

[Annabelle]

So for example, in the Mixer Window, how would I create an accessible example of a microphone array?

[JKSH]

@Annabelle said in Creating a Virtual Instrument with Qt:

So for example, in the Mixer Window, how would I create an accessible example of a microphone array?

First, describe how you want to let your users interact with the microphone array.

[Annabelle]

@JKSH said in Creating a Virtual Instrument with Qt:

@Annabelle said in Creating a Virtual Instrument with Qt:

So for example, in the Mixer Window, how would I create an accessible example of a microphone array?

First, describe how you want to let your users interact with the microphone array.

Basically what happens is, the customer chooses a set of microphones (Close, Mid, Surround, Stage, Room, Overhead, Main Mix, Decka Tree), whichever microphones and mixes are presented in each instrument, by navigating to the Microphones menu and right-clicking or pressing the Applications Key, then left-clicking or pressing enter on the microphones they want to select. The instrument then loads the chosen samples, while the other mixes and microphones are either muted or unloaded from memory.

[Annabelle]

If anyone is interested, when I complete the manual, I can send it along, so you can get an idea of what the interface will look like. The manual will include keyboard commands, and basic descriptions of the components of the user interface. Will this help in figuring out how to program the different components?

[mrjj]

@Annabelle
Hi
Yes it's a very good idea to write manual first.
It gives a overview of the components needed and what functions they must have.

[Annabelle]

@mrjj said in Creating a Virtual Instrument with Qt:

@Annabelle
Hi
Yes it's a very good idea to write manual first.
It gives a overview of the components needed and what functions they must have.

After completing the manual, how would I post it for anyone to read? Is there a way to post attachments on this forum?

[mrjj]

@Annabelle
Yes there is but it only likes images and .c files.
Maybe we can cheat and rename it doc to say .cpp
and people can just rename it back.

[Annabelle]

I could try that, but I still wonder how I would post it? Is there a button on the message page that is designed for posting attachments?

[mrjj]

@Annabelle
Hi
it only allows images and not doc or pdf.
So to post here you would have to use some other site and post the link here so people can download and watch.